CHANGED BY LOVE

About eight o’clock one Saturday night, two hardened criminals stepped into the bedroom of a shocked Mr. Reno, a wealthy, respectable man. Mr. Reno already in his night clothes, was to retire for the night.

“Don’t move or shout. This is a holdup. Give us your treasure box,” one of the criminals said in a low voice.

Just as Mr. Reno was giving the box, the telephone rang. When he got the receiver and tried to answer, the criminals jumped at him and beat him brutally. They kicked and slapped him. When they have finished punishing him, he was unconscious and bloody. One of his eyes was gouged out. They bundled him and jammed him behind a steel cabinet. Then they fled with the treasure box.

A housemaid who came out of her room to check if the doors were locked, stepped on a pool of warm blood and slipped. Frightened, she screamed. The other members of the family came and the unconscious Mr. Reno was found.

The case was reported to the police and the criminals were apprehended. In the meantime, Mr. Reno had been in the hospital hovering between life and death. One eye had been totally destroyed and there was doubt whether the other could be saved. As soon as Mr. Reno could write, he sent a message to the court that the criminals be paroled under his supervision.

Mr. Reno treated them like sons. One did not respond to Mr. Reno’s love but the other made good. He attended college and graduated. Later, he attended a medical school. The young man said, “I want to become a doctor, an eye surgeon.”

Completely changed, the eye surgeon became very famous. Whenever he began an operation he remembered Mr. Reno, the kind old man who changed his life with his love.

- Developing Reading Power 5 (Enriched Combined Edition)